Psychosis seminars (trialogue)

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community · Dorothea Buck, Thomas Bock, Ingeborg Esterer · 1989 · Hamburg, Germany

What it is

A psychosis seminar (Psychoseseminar) is a regular, open, public discussion forum where three groups meet as equals: people with lived experience of psychosis, their relatives (family and friends), and mental health professionals and trainees. Interested members of the public and students also…

Format

• The seminar does not have treatment phases. Its structure has two levels: how a seminar is set up and run in cycles, and how an individual client moves through it. The second level is mostly.
• Heidelberg: fortnightly 2-hour sessions; anyone may speak or stay silent; the forum also covers depression, anxiety and compulsions.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Berlin-Tempelhof: sessions every four weeks of about 90 minutes with a break, rotating moderation, no registration and no duty to attend regularly.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Rules turning into a lecture. Keep them under a minute.
• Anticipatory anxiety. Shorten the plan to "go for the first half".
• Token involvement, where users and relatives are invited but have no influence.
• The seminar being used only to attack or idealise treatment. Explore both sides.
• Pushing meaning onto someone who prefers a medical model. Respect their framing.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.